CNN hires Castro's estranged daughter

[deadparrot]

NEW YORK - With Cuban leader Fidel Castro ailing after 47 years in power, CNN said Thursday it had hired his estranged daughter, Alina Fernandez, as a network contributor.

Fernandez, who was 3 when Castro took power and had sporadic contact with him, left Cuba disguised as a Spanish tourist in 1993. She moved to Miami, where she is a radio host and the author of "Castro's Daughter: An Exile's Memoir of Cuba."

Her father has temporarily handed over power to his brother Raul and remained out of the public eye after undergoing surgery for intestinal bleeding.

Fernandez will provide commentary and expertise about Cuba as the story about her father's health, and a potential succession of power, continues.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060803/ap_en_tv/tv_cnn_castro_s_daughter

[meegbear]

1. A woman who hasn't been in Cuba since '93 to comment on Cuba

And I thought it was stupid when faux news hired Dick Morris as their Clinton expert, even though he hasn't dealt with them since 1996.

Duh CNN.

[Judi Lynn]

2. She would have a lot of negative feelings about him, and has made

a big name for herself in anti-Castro circles:

Born in 1956, Alina was a child in the years just before and immediately following the Revolution of 1959. As the Revolution's events unfolded, Alina came to realize that, depending on his mood, Castro treated his illegitimate daughter with one of two extreme feelings--utter adoration or painful neglect. Through the years, however, Castro's influence as an authority figure in Alina's life never diminished. As she grew older, she recognized her position as one of Cuba's elite--but the political practices she witnessed under her father's regime and the neglect she experienced drove her to renounce that position and, ultimately, her relationship with her father as well.
(snip)

http://www.wolfmanproductions.com/fernandez.html

[meegbear]

3. But if she hasn't been there since 1993 ...

what can she contribute, other than her name?

[Judi Lynn]

4. Absolutely. They have been through unbelievable change in that time.

They were struggling hard in the "special period, which "in Cuba was an extended period of economic crisis that began in 1991 after the collapse of the Soviet Union...."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_Period

What she could contribute now would be worthless.

She's a person with a grudge who has found a way to fame and wealth in the midst of his worst enemies on earth. Don't see how she could be content with that arrangement, actually.

(Edited to add quote and source)

[Canadian_moderate]

5. Much more than most of us

She knows Castro better than any of us.

I don't believe Castro is evil like conservatives do, but he's certainly caused hardship for many Cubans by being a hardline communist. I have many friends who have visited Cuban for vacations and most have informed me that Cuba is no exactly utopia. Yes, people have access to an excellent education system and a relatively decent healthcare, but other than that life's no that grand for the average Cuban. It's certainly better off than Haiti, but I think I'd rather live in Barbados or the Cayman Islands.

I don't understand how anyone who calls him/herself a democrat can idolize a communist dictator. That is afterall what Fidel is. Unlike Americans who can vote to get rid of GWB or at least limit him to 2 terms, Cubans are not as fortunate. They're stuck with Fidel until he's pretty much dead and then he hands the reigns to one of his handpicked cronies.

[Judi Lynn]

6. Many DU'ers have visited Cuba, some of them have gone there

multiple times, and maintain close friendships with people in Cuba, by phone, letter, e-mail.

You might want to compare notes with them.

[Canadian_moderate]

9. My neighbour visit Cuba at least twice year

Rather than stayinh at posh resorts, they tend to rough it when they're there.

They're also quite socialist, but more social-democratic, yet they can see that Fidel's Cuba is not a socialist paradise.

Another friend of mine stayed in Havana for 10 days for a budget vacation. Again, he's a socialist NDP-voting Canadian and he could see many of the flaws.

I hope to god that if Fidel dies and Cuba becomes more democratic, they will not go from one extreme to the other. The people of Cuba are used to a patriarchal government and they would struggle to fend for themselves in a free-market economy. We've all seen how Eastern Europeans and Russian citizens have struggle to adjust, especially the older people in those countries.

[manic expression]

21. Look

Of course there are "flaws", no one said the country's perfect. However, even with the most extensive embargoes perhaps in the entire world, Cuba is still able to provide a very respectable standard of living, excellent education and amazing healthcare. That's more than an accomplishment.

On "democracy", Cubans have an undeniable voice in their government. The system of elections is arguably more representative of the people than that of the US. People are allowed to express themselves as well.

http://members.allstream.net/~dchris/CubaFAQ.html
http://members.allstream.net/~dchris/CubaFAQ.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4569981.stm

[CHIMO]

23. Hmm...

Try spell check and get a dictionary. With a bit of grammar.

[Auntie Bush]

26. That comment wasn't very nice!

[CHIMO]

31. OK n/t

[Canadian_moderate]

29. Thanks man!

for the spelling comment. Anything useful to add?

[Mika]

13. I have many friends who visit the USA and..

.. they find that it is no utopia. Without a lot of money they found that in America life's not that grand for the average American.

Plus, average working class and poor Americans have little or no access to decent health care, and almost 1/2 of students don't graduate high school.

Also, Americans don't have much of a leg to stand on when criticizing cronyism in politics and economics.


IMO, Cuba does better at above areas (of which many Americans would give their 'left one' to have - access to affordable/free health care and universal ed, pre K to PhD).

[daleo]

20. I have a colleague who has family in the Cayman Islands

You do live well there, if you are rich (which usually means white as well). She said life can be extremely boring for the tax refugees though - they mostly sit around on the hotel balconies and complain about their homelands' high taxes. There seems to be one main road to cruise around on. Other than that, there is diving. And dodging hurricanes.

Jamaican workers don't have it that well there, according to her. She said their living quarters are on the other side of the island from the rich, and are pretty shabby.

[Vidar]

10. CNN's own Havana Holly, isn't that precious?

[Say_What]

39. She's also been described as somewhat hysterical

and suffers from eating disorders. Says she learned to speak English by watching the OJ Simpson trial! :crazy:

Just another opportunist making money off the Anti-Cuba industry in Gusanoville at the expense of her parents.

From an article a few years ago:

... Fernandez grew up an unhappy child on the outer edges of Castro's mildly privileged entourage. Her mother, Natalia Revuelta, was a rich and beautiful socialite married to a doctor, Orlando Fernandez, when she fell in love with Castro.

Alina Fernandez has detailed her story in a 1997 book, Castro's Daughter: An Exile's Memoir of Cuba, where Revuelta is portrayed as a distant mother who ceded intimacy and the work of parenting to a black nanny named Tata Mercedes.

The experience left Fernandez emotionally scarred. She has had four husbands and says she still battles anorexia, which is the subject of a soon-to-be-published second book, Una Hoja de Lechuga, or A Leaf of Lettuce.

Through much of her youth, Castro visited often, according to Fernandez' first book, which relates mixed feelings about the "maximum leader."

She remembers meeting him for the first time as a very young child: "(My mother) put me on the floor in the midst of a cloud of cigar smoke, and there, his head lost in a bluish stinking cloud, was the top hairy man ... He bent down ... and inspected me ... I did not want to give the man a kiss: his face was too hairy."

A more kindly memory of Castro comes later after Fernandez, her mother, her grandmother and the nanny are allowed to live in the abandoned home of a wealthy Havana family that fled the revolution. "Though he no longer came practically every night the way he had before the argument with (my mother)," she wrote, "one could feel his presence like a warm mantle protecting our home."

http://www.sptimes.com/2002/03/18/State/On_the_air__Voice_of_.shtml

[lpbk2713]

7. So is she Kagan's replacement?

:rofl: :rofl:

[Judi Lynn]

8. Oh, my gosh! Next in line in case Rush should get lonely!

Daryn, Alina

Hey, they both live in South Florida, too! How providential.

[Auntie Bush]

27. Is Kagan leaving? nt

[Briar]

11. Her name ought to be Goneril

or Regan.

[Judi Lynn]

12. Too bad they don't try to connect with other revolutionaries' children,

in Havana!

Here are Che Guevara's well known children, Dr. Aleida (named for mother) Guevara, her brother Camilo (named for revolutionary Camilo Cienfuegos) Guevara, and Raul Castro's daughter, Mariela Castro:

[Mika]

14. Did ya know that Castro's sister sued the daughter for slander - and won.

This gusano daughter wrote a book that slandered the Castro family. Fidel's Miami based sister (who is reporting that Fidel is recovering from surgery quite well) sued her and won for defamation.

[Judi Lynn]

16. No! I had not heard that. How interesting! Didn't know anyone had

ever challenged her publically. Always assumed the world was her oyster in Miami!

I wonder if it taught her to be more circumspect. She used to come on REALLY STRONG originally. Very loud. I tuned out a lot of what she said as it seemed absurd.

She must have been shocked to get checked by her aunt.

[Say_What]

38. I knew Juanita was pissed but I didn't know she sued...

Good for her. The little twit Alina sure does get around.

:bounce:

[Say_What]

15. BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

she sure does make the rounds. Where's she gonna get her commentary?? Oh yeah, the MiamiGusano propaganda machine.

Check out her *book*--so poorly written it's a joke. She published her mother's love letters from Fidel and her Aunt Juanita (Fidel's sister) who lives in Miami disowned her basically saying that it wasn't appropriate. Her mother, Naty Revuelta, still lives in Cuba and is a very interesting figure. Her wealth helped finance the Cuban Revolution.

An interesting artcile about them at this link:

http://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/articles/990201/archive_000173.htm

[Judi Lynn]

18. So the prison guard switched the letters. Hmmmmm.

Here he is with his wife, Mirta Diaz-Balart.



Very unusual story.

I've heard a lot more about her mother, Natalia Revuelta, than I have about Alina. Here she is as she looks presently.

[Say_What]

37. Found this clip from an interview

with Alina on a Miami website.... she doesn't like Bush. LOL

There's also an article posted in June there about Posada possibly calling John Kerry as a witness. You'll have to search or scroll down the page.

...“I think perfect Democracy has yet to be invented,” she said. “I don’t like Bush. It doesn’t mean I’m a Democrat or a leftist…There’s very little difference between the Republicans and the Democrats. The Republicans promise us things but then break their promises. And the Democrats never promise anything.”

While she is completely opposed to the Cuban government, Revuelta is also against the travel restrictions imposed by the U.S. government upon its citizens and Cuban exiles. Asked what she thinks will happen in Cuba’s future, she said Cubans would have to incorporate ideals from different parts of the world.

http://blogs.herald.com/cuban_connection/timbiriche_talk/index.html

Nice photos of Naty.

[Say_What]

41. Fidel's son Fidelito's name is Fidel Castro Diaz-Balart...

that must make those Ditzy Balistic brothers a little crazier than they already are.

Fidelito also has a brain. Here's a slide show he presented in 2005 titled INTERFACE OF NUCLEAR
AND BIOTECHNOLOGIES. Looks like his father. Plenty of hits in Google. Interesting we never hear about him in the USSA.

http://www-pub.iaea.org/MTCD/Meetings/PDFplus/2005/SF_Presentations05/Session3/Castro_05.pdf

[kskiska]

17. I wonder whether any of Che's children have been considered

as successors to Fidel. His daughter was recently in the news regarding copyrighting Che's picture on merchandise.

[Judi Lynn]

19. He does have a son, Fidel.

I found an article in the Herald about his regular family:

The Miami Herald
October 8, 2000
Castro's Family

Fidel's private life with his wife and sons is so secret
that even the CIA is left to wonder

BY JUAN O. TAMAYO



Fidel Castro Díaz-Balart

~snip~
Photographs of two of Castro's sons, a niece and a
nephew-in-law that appear in today's Herald are,
indeed, the first time their faces are published
anywhere, slightly lifting the veil of secrecy that
shrouds Castro's family.

His wife, Dalia Soto del Valle, and their sons Angel,
Antonio, Alejandro, Alexis and Alex, have never been
identified in the island's media and only in a few
foreign publications not subject to Cuban censorship.

Except for brothers Raúl and Ramón and his oldest
son, ``Fidelito,'' Castro's close relatives hold no
publicly visible jobs, wield no political power, and are
unlikely to play a role in the succession to the
74-year-old ruler.

While they live comfortably, compared to the grinding
shortages faced by most Cubans, they are under
strict orders to avoid ostentatious behavior and live
austerely, far from the limelight, acquaintances say.

``They don't dress any better than anyone else,'' said
Castro's daughter, Alina Fernández, now living in
Spain. ``On the contrary, they are required to at least
project an image of austerity for the rest of the
Cubans.''

Added exile author Norberto Fuentes: ``The most
avaricious cabinet minister lives no better than the
average Cuban in Miami. He has one car, not two. An
air conditioner in the car? No air conditioner.''

Unlike other Latin dictators, he promotes no cult of
personality.
(snip/...)

http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/fidel/castro-family.htm

From a google search, another photo of Fidelito:



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It would be interesting to find out about the Guevara young ones, for sure.

[LuckyLib]

22. Disguised as a Spanish tourist? Did she arrive here under false

paperwork? Wouldn't that make her an "illegal alien"?? Just askin.

[Mika]

24. The US wet foot/dry foot. & the US Cuban Adjustment Act..

.. allows any and all Cubans who make it to US soil to stay - no matter how they got here or what their criminal record might be.

They are then eligible for all of the perk that the US offers to Cubans only-

- the US's Cuban Adjustment Act instantly allows any and all Cuban migrants who touch US shore (no matter how they do so) instant entry, instant work visa, instant green card status, instant social security, instant access to welfare, instant access to section 8 assisted housing (with a $41,000 income exemption for Cuban expats only), instant food stamps, plus more. IOW, extra special enhanced social programs designed to entice Cuban expatriation to Miami/USA.

[CHIMO]

25. Interesting

If one thinks that perhaps one third of Cubans move to Florida, then there is no more issue with Mexicans with the election.

Very interesting. If one were Castro or his brother, then they might implement some form of this.

[Mika]

28. Huh?

I really can't decipher what the hell you're trying to say. Could ya rephrase that in some sort of intelligible way?

[CHIMO]

30. Well

If three to four million Cubans land in Florida before the elections it would most likely take all other electoral issues away and perhaps cause another issue to come out.

[Mika]

33. It just won't happen

First,
Most Cubans are loyal to their homeland

Second,
The US and Cuba signed a migration agreement in 1996.

It states that a mass migration from Cuba would be tantamount to an act of war by Cuba on the US.

That is a major reason why Cuba has to crack down on any exodus of Cubans seeking easy entry and a plethura of perks in the US.

Part of the agreement was the 'wet foot/dry foot' policy. Prior to the 1996 agreement agreement all Cubans intercepted at sea by the US Coast Guard were brought to the US. Now they have to be returned to Cuba by the USCG if they do not have a legitimate claim of persecution for asylum during an interview on a USCG cutter by an immigration/asylum officer.

[CHIMO]

35. So

Then that act really doesn't amount to much. So... Seems like they have nothing to loose if one third of the island leaves.

Bush will invade anyway?

[AlphaCentauri]

36. are they going to take American jobs? n/t

[geomon666]

32. CNN whoring themselves out again.

This time to the cuban mafia. Nice.

[pitohui]

34. ain't seen him in 13 years but she's the expert!

jeez, there is no honest living to be made any more, every job is based on your last name and who you know and who you're related to

[bluedog]

40. our news said she was his illegitimate daughter

and that he has been married to his currant wife many years.......he does have a son.......

naturally I can't find the St Pete times article on line..........but she is using her fathers name to gain attention in the world

[Say_What]

42. More than one son...

In addition to the oldest son, Fidel Castro Diaz-Balart, there are five sons by his present wife:

...His wife, Dalia Soto del Valle, and their sons Angel,
Antonio, Alejandro, Alexis and Alex, have never been
identified in the island's media and only in a few
foreign publications not subject to Cuban censorship.

Except for brothers Raúl and Ramón and his oldest
son, ``Fidelito,'' Castro's close relatives hold no
publicly visible jobs, wield no political power, and are
unlikely to play a role in the succession to the
74-year-old ruler.

...Their sons range in age from Angel, about 25 and studying medicine, to Alex, a
computer systems manager in his mid-30s. Antonio is studying to be an
orthopedic surgeon, and Alejandro and Alexis are computer programmers.

They use the surname Castro Soto del Valle, and their first names come from the
nom de guerre that Castro adopted during the revolution in the 1950s -- Alejandro,
in admiration of Alexander the Great's military feats.

Almost nothing is known about a sixth Castro son, Jorge Angel Castro, identified
by Alina Fernández as the child of a woman who died years ago. He is believed to
be 51 years old and to have four children, including triplets. The middle name
Angel may come from Castro's Spanish-born father, Angel Castro.

All but Angel and Alejandro Castro Soto del Valle are said to be married and have
children of their own, making Castro a grandfather many times over. Alejandro,
known as a computer and softball nut who always dresses informally, is said to
be the only one still living at home with Fidel and Dalia.

Alina Fernández recalled the five brothers as ``sensible, intelligent kids.'' But she
felt sorry for them, she added, ``because on the one side they are tightly watched
by guards, and on the other Cubans have a great curiosity about them.''

http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/fidel/castro-family.htm

[Akim]

43. There Are No Illegitimate Children in Cuba

There are no illegitimate children in Cuba. Cuban law recognizes all children as legitimate. Their parent's marital status is immaterial.